What began as a routine shopping outing at a Texas outlet mall reportedly turned into an upsetting and intimidating experience for the elderly mother of an Indian American physician, after she was stopped and questioned by federal immigration agents despite being a United States citizen for nearly half a century.
The incident was brought to public attention by Dr Nisha Patel, a San Francisco–based doctor, who described the encounter in a post on X. According to Patel, officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), some of whom were masked, approached her mother while she was shopping and made assumptions about her background based solely on her accent. Patel said the agents presumed her mother spoke Spanish and initially addressed her in that language.
Patel alleged that when her mother explained that she did not speak Spanish, the interaction became more aggressive. The agents reportedly began pressing her repeatedly about where she was “from,” rapidly naming different countries without allowing her the time or space to respond. The questioning, Patel said, left her mother visibly shaken and confused in a public setting where she had expected to feel safe.
According to Patel, the agents only allowed her mother to leave after she showed them a photograph of her US passport stored on her mobile phone. Patel said her mother attempted to stay composed during the encounter and even told the agents that she had lived in the United States longer than some of them had been alive, underscoring her long-standing legal status and deep roots in the country.
In her post, Patel framed the incident as part of a wider pattern emerging under the current immigration enforcement climate. She argued that aggressive tactics are no longer limited to undocumented migrants but are increasingly affecting citizens, long-term residents and entire communities, particularly people of colour and those with accents.
Patel wrote that her mother was “stopped and harassed” simply because of how she spoke, stressing that assumptions about language and nationality led directly to the confrontation. She said the episode demonstrated how profiling based on appearance or accent can result in citizens being treated as suspects in everyday public spaces.
The incident comes amid an expanded immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump’s administration, with ICE operations increasingly visible in places such as shopping centres, streets and neighbourhoods. This heightened enforcement has sparked protests in several US cities and drawn criticism after fatal encounters involving US citizens, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Indian nationals have also been significantly affected by recent enforcement actions. Data from India’s Ministry of External Affairs shows that thousands of Indians have been deported from the United States over the past two years for immigration-related violations, adding to anxiety within the Indian diaspora.
International concern has also grown over US immigration practices. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has warned that intensified enforcement risks arbitrary arrests and unlawful actions, noting that migrants and those perceived to be migrants are increasingly being surveilled, detained and subjected to force.
Patel ended her post with a blunt message, emphasising that her mother’s experience should serve as a warning. She stressed that her mother is a US citizen who has lived in the country for 47 years and argued that anyone who believes the crackdown targets only criminals is fundamentally mistaken.
